Itsuki Sekirai
Itsuki Sekirai is a citizen of Kumogakure before it was overrun and destroyed by the Jashinist invaders. Thrown from his home with his greviously wounded father, mother and sister, he followed the rest of the crowds until they eventually reached the safety of the Sora-ku. However the Sora-ku was already inhabited by shady merchants and dealers, low-lifes of the worst kind. Unwilling to share their refuge, these merchants reluctantly shared their "haven" but at a price. Many of the possessions and wealth that the residents brought with them were seized by the traders. Uncontent with his state of existence, he lived quietly in the Sora-ku with the rest of his family, until one fateful day, when he left the city, with the intention of aiding anyone with a desire to eradicate the Jashinist evil from the world. Background Previously a happy child in Kumogakure, hailing from the relatively prestigious Sekirai Family, Itsuki enjoyed a blissful existence filled with promise and hope for a bright future. All of this changed, of course, when the Jashinist army put Kumo in their sights. The battle was relentless and his father was called up to fight the oncoming invasion. With his father gone, Itsuki was left to look over his mother and sister. They were barricaded inside their family home, waiting and hoping for the invasion to end. Over time the explosions and screaming died down until a deathly silence fell on the home. This silence pervaded for several minutes. Then, out of the silence, a thud. Then another. Then another, slowly getting louder as they moved closer to the house. All of this time was waiting in fear. They stopped. A louder bang, on the door this time. The pounds on the door were punctuated by inhuman roars and screeches as whatever inhuman creature that was trying to get inside howled out its frustration to the world. Then a colossal sound as the door was wrenched of its hinges to reveal the creature. Completely white with a flickering snake-like tongue that tasted the air. A single eye, yellow with jaundice, its dirty teeth still covered with the blood of its last victim. Baring its death in a sinister grin of delight it bounded towards the cowering family. Itsuki took a step forward in front of his sister and mother, determined to defend them against this monstrosity, even if at the cost of his own life. The creature briefly stopped as if in curiosity at this human's futile action. Raising a claw to strike it brought it whistling down at incredible speed to Itsuki. Centimetres away from his chest the claw stopped. The beast looked down. Itsuki opened his eyes, squeezed shut by fear. And there, protruding from the hellish being's chest was a single glowing blade of lightning. The blade suddenly ripped up, tearing the pitiful creature asunder with a pitiful screech, before it was still and silent as death itself. Behind the beast was Itsuki's father himself, covered in blood and limping from a heavy wound to the hip, but alive. He took a brief moment to embrace his family before shouting that they needed to leave. Itsuki helped his father, his sister and mother too frozen by shock, fear and relief to be able to move. He gathered the most nessecery possessions he could find before confirming that they were ready to leave. Before they did, however, his father ran back inside to collect one last possession, the Sekirai Family Scroll. Stored in an ornately carved chest, this scroll contained secrets and knowledge of one of the most iconic techniques that Kumo has ever produced. Kneeling down and passing it on to his son, he revealed that it had been a gift from Itsuki's grandfather and that it was now his. In awe of this new revelation, Itsuki asked his father whether it was a weapon to fight the oncoming threat, his father quickly rebuked him and replied that it was an armour to defend that which he cared about. Hugging and thanking his father for the gift, they continued their flight of city. As they followed the steady trickle of refugees out of the city, there was one final colossal explosion. Turning around they watched the Raikage's tower sway from side to side, like a tree in the breeze that is being battered by a storm, before, with a mighty groan, falling to the ground. Shocked and disturbed by this, the escapees continued their slow journey for a sanctuary. They marched for weeks as a group, with their numbers slowly dwindling as they went, forced to abandon the weaker wounded or injured citizens as they travelled. As Itsuki's father himself was still badly wounded from the battle, the family lived in fear that they too would be left behind to fend for themselves. Preoccupied by this fear, Itsuki took his mind off things by studying the scroll which his father had given him before they left. Itsuki belonged to a shinobi family and was trained in some low-level shinobi arts, but nearly all of the concepts, phrases and expressions in the scroll were completely alien to him. Many of the later techniques seemed to be simple taijutsu however, and therefore Itsuki aspired to master these, drilling them endlessly. However they all required the first technique as a perquisite, without which they would be little more than useless in an actual battle. Relenting, Itsuki went to his father for help. Explaining the idea of chakra affinity, and that the Sekirai Family had a long history of shinobi with a strong Lightning Release affinity, Itsuki's father then demonstrated briefly, covering his body in a layer of electricity. Beckoning Itsuki to come closer, he advanced cautiously, certain that the lightning would shock him on contact. Feeling little in the way of electricity even when close to his father, he then placed his hand on his father, his own chakra immediately responding to this and igniting in his own aura of powerful electricity. Bathed in the armour and its power, Itsuki relished in the feeling. Deactivating his chakra mode, Itsuki's father said that now he had had help, it was up to him to do the rest. Thanking his father, Itsuki turned away and stared at his clenched fist for a moment, lightning wreathing it. Now that he had felt the power and knew what it was he had to achieve, Itsuki made astonishing progress. In the course of little over a fortnight, Itsuki went from merely being able to cloak his hands and extremities in the lightning aura to being able to arm his entire body. Upon seeing his son's progress with this technique Itsuki's father was shocked. Not only was the intensity of the cloak impressive for someone of Itsuki's age, but he demonstrated a level of control over the lightning that was usually only seen in those much more experienced. Bearing this control in mind, Itsuki was taught the fundamentals of the Hell Stab technique, which would serve as the staple technique of his arsenal for years to come. While he could easily concentrate chakra to use the four-fingered version, and he could maintain the three-fingered variant for relatively long periods of time, at this stage he was simply unable to achieve the ultimate spear, the one-fingered stab. Asking his son not to be disheartened by this, he encouraged him to continue practicing. Itsuki did this with a passion, often volunteering to cut down trees for firewood as a means of practicing and maintaining the strength of his "spear". This was not all he practiced. In the time he had left in the march he would reach a high-level of control over the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, able to use the famed Lightning Release Body Flicker (雷の瞬身, Rai no Shunshin) with very little effort, by momentarily stimulating his nervous system with electricity. By the time they were within sight of the Soru-ka, he had ample experience with both the Hell Stab and the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, capable of sustaining both indefinitely. At first he was worried about his lack of ranged attacks, and considered the possibility that he might fall prey to a marksman of some kind. Over time however, this fear lessened as he experienced the blistering speed of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode and realised that no-one, not even a bearer of the famed Sharingan would be able to keep up with his movements, let alone accurately target him with a projectile. Besides, whilst donning the armour Itsuki's reflexes were so great he could dodge any projectile aimed his way, even one fired at point-blank range. He first displayed his amazing reflexes when the group approached the Sora-ku and one of the mercenary ninja residing their hurled a Fūma Shuriken at one of the leaders at the front of the group. In an instant, Itsuki was at the head of the group and snatched the razor-sharp projectile out of the air. All this happened literally at the speed of lightning, and it was the first real display of just how far Itsuki had come. Of course the mercenary ninja took the action as an offensive measure, and wasted no time in hurling a second projectile towards the group. Itsuki caught it, spun and flung it back along its previous trajectory, striking their aggressor in the leg and knocking him down with a cry. Once they arrived at his location a moment of recognition occurred between Itsuki's father and the mercenary, as their aggressor turned out to be an old friend of his father's from a mission long ago. Asking him what he was doing in an abandoned city, the mercenary laughed against the pain and replied that he might well ask the very same thing. Nervous about the new situation, Itsuki watched the exchange excitedly. Asking Itsuki to help the man to his feet, father and son spread the weight of the man between them, as he gave directions to the leader of the city, a ruthless individual identified by the call sign Karasu. Progress was sweaty and slow, and despite the large number of residents in the Sora-ku, none of them seemed to offer any assistance, instead cowering scared in the ruins of the city. Noting this peculiar behaviour, Itsuki asked why they weren't helping, to which the mercenary replied that they were so used to his presence as a position of power, they were unwilling to approach him now. As Itsuki's father harshly commentated that its no wonder that the citizens are scared given the welcome they received, the mercenary, now identified as Asuma, replied that in times like these, they all had to do what they could to survive. These words bit deeply into the mind of Itsuki, and would have a great impact in the years to come. Upon finally reaching Karasu, more guards, armed with swords and bearing a forehead protector with a line scored through the middle, stepped forward and interrogated Asuma about the identity of the people, and who they were. Replying that Karasu would want to see them personally, the guards exchanged sceptical glances, before a shout indicated that they were to be let through. Entering into a vast room in the base of one of the toppled skyscrapers, Itsuki was astonished by the vastness of the structure. As a voice reverberated around the room, Itsuki looked up to see a crooked man smirking at them from atop a "throne" of sorts, a massive old wooden chair, scored with cuts and chips. As Asuma explained the situation, Karasu became noticeably angrier and snapped about why he had bothered bringing them to him, and that he already had enough refugees to feed. Asking what he meant by that, Itsuki learnt that since the Jashinist uprising, a large number of displaced people had arrived at the Sora-ku looking for sanctuary. Stating that he had no need for any more waifs, he beckoned to the guards who rapidly advanced with weapons drawn. Their pleas falling on deaf ears, despite Asuma's attempted intervention, Itsuki immediately moved for the closed man and nigh on bisected him in an instant with his Hell Stab. Ready to deliver the same fate upon the next guard, he was stopped by a cry from Karasu, who seemed impressed by Itsuki's skills. Stating that he would consider allowing the group to stay if he was repaid for the guard that he lost, Itsuki stammered that they had very few possessions and little money. Laughing evilly, Karasu replied that he did not want money, rather he wanted Itsuki to take the place of the guard that he had felled. Agreeing almost immediately, he was suddenly knocked on the back of the head by a blow to the back of the head, the sinister laugh of the "king" of the Sora-ku following him into oblivion. Waking to darkness and the face of the mercenary from earlier, Itsuki asked where he was, upon which Asuma stated that he was in the "barracks" if they could be called that, and that he apologised for the method by which he was brought here, but it seemed the easiest way to do so without the interference of his parents. Remembering all that had transpired, he asked whether or not his family was safe, to which Asuma replied that they were, for now. Stating that his skills against the guard had been impressive, but that he had far more to learn, Itsuki eagerly inquired as to what he meant. Holding up the Kitamura Family Scroll, he stated that he had mastered the basic techniques but that some could only be accessed in a certain way. Telling him to don his Lightning Armour, he tossed the scroll to Itsuki. The moment it touched his body, the scroll ignited with a series of diagrams and characters which he had never seen before, Asuma replied that it was as he said, he had a lot to learn. They began training immediately and continued to do so for weeks, drilling the same moves over and over again until he could perform them with minimal effort and on a moments notice. Although the main technique was the eighth sword, the Lightning Release: Lariat, Itsuki began to continue practicing with the Hell Stab, determined to master the one-fingered variant, in secret, which eventually culminated in his mastery of the technique, felling a massive old skyscraper by mistake on his final try. Although Asuma finally conceded the power of his taijutsu, he noticed the intelligence that the boy possessed, and, as a result, began to teach him the Lightning Release: Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning Pillar technique, which harnessed lightning in order to create a blinding flash of light that simultaneously placed opponents under a genjutsu. Although it was very different to his other skills, he threw himself into the technique. It turned out to be easier than he thought, and the application of the technique was similar to the Lightning Release Chakra Mode. Soon he was capable of producing blinding flashes from anywhere on his body, as well as simply producing an intense glowing light to fight off darkness and shadow. The final skill that he was taught was a basic Lightning Release ninjutsu, Lightning Release: False Darkness. It allows the user to generate spears of electricity, either from the mouth as a simple blast, or, as Itsuki more commonly uses, from the hands to produce crackling spears of lightning that can be wielded and thrown as weapons. He eventually defeated Karasu and he and his family returned to a rebuilt Kumogakure. Personality Appearance Abilities